Worrying trends at South Africa's public broadcaster

South Africa is in the midst of one of its
most important political events--the ruling African National Congress's Mangaung
elective conference, which takes place once every five years to shape policy
and elect new leadership. Because of the
power of the ANC as South Africa's leading political party, the conference
holds not only the future of the party in its hands, but also the future of
South Africa.

There is pressure on the country's media to
comprehensively cover
the event--and there is an understanding that South Africa's public
broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), will play its important
role,
informing and educating South African citizens about the elections, candidates,
behind-the-scene battles, and the actual policies the ANC is planning to adopt
on critical issues such as communications, education, and health.

Sadly, although there are pockets of
excellent reporting, the SABC is falling short of this mandate. Not only is
there not enough comprehensive coverage of the issues at stake at Mangaung,
including discussion of the ANC's policies, there have been worrying cases of
direct censorship.

For example, there was the SABC's decision
to pull a harmless
fish and chips advertisement
that poked fun at President Jacob Zuma's large family. Then came a crisis at
SABC station MetroFM, when a radio talk show on media coverage of the Mangaung
Conference was pulled
moments before it was to go on air. The show was to feature a team of respected
independent journalists, but SABC executives claimed that the panel
did not include a representative of the ANC and the program could only be
broadcast later when this had been organized.
Then, a few days ago, the SABC canned
a pre-recorded interview with South Africa's most famous, critical, and feisty
cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro--known as Zapiro--on a program called "Interface."
Again SABC executives claimed that it couldn't be broadcast because there was
"no balancing of views." In addition, there have been reports
of a letter
written by a group of unnamed SABC reporters, presenters, and producers
highlighting their fears of political
interference. And finally, Siki Mgabadeli, one of the most respected talk
show hosts at SABC station SAFM, resigned, also reportedly after political
interference.

The latest and possibly most worrying event
is the SABC's move to centralize
editorial direction and control of all of its radio talk shows which deal with
issues of politics and governance. This decision has far reaching implications
for SABC journalists and for radio listeners who generally represent the poorer
and more marginalized communities in South Africa--communities that have access
to few options other than the SABC.

Respected non-governmental organization Media
Monitoring Africa has pointed
out some of the problems. What will happen to open-line shows where
presenters take calls from listeners? What if the caller wants to talk about a
political- or governance-related issue? As MMA points out, the concern
ultimately is that presenters, producers, and talk-show hosts may be tempted to
close down discussions rather than open them up if they fear violating this new
process.

The SABC sits at the center of the South
African media landscape. Its radio and television services reach to the furthest
corners of the country. Its task as our premier public broadcaster is to
develop informed citizens who can take control of their lives. This is a
critical task-- particularly in a developing country with its myriad of challenges
around alleviating poverty and inequality. The SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition--a
coalition of NGOs, unions, and program makers--has vowed to fight these worrying
trends through popularizing its vision
document for a truly independent, accountable public broadcaster.